A Mormon Fritillary butterfly feeding on an aspen fleabane daisy, a main nectar source. Credit: Carol Boggs, Stanford University

Early snowmelt caused by climate change in the Colorado Rocky Mountains snowballs into two chains of events: a decrease in the number of flowers, which, in turn, decreases available nectar. The result is decline in a population of the Mormon Fritillary butterfly, Speyeria mormonia.

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